Friday, November 21, 2008

Sweet Potato Fries with Parsley and Caper Mayonnaise

Oliver and I were contemplating going out for dinner, when, suddenly, I noticed our two lonely sweet potatoes that we hadn't gotten around to using this week. Sometimes, the best meals are built around a single item, and this smelled like that kind of night. I had published these sweet potato fries while working on TasteSpotting a little while ago and knew they would be my inspiration for tonight's dish. We opted for baking the fries (a generally much healthier version than deep frying), keeping it rustic with the skins left on, and serving it with a hearty batch of homemade mayonnaise.

I don't know if it's because I grew up watching my mother make mayonnaise time and time again, or if it's just because homemade mayonnaise is so easy to make, but I never understood why people buy the jarred stuff. Sure, I won't lie, it has come in handy a couple of times in the past, but the real stuff just takes whatever you're making to a whole new level. Trust me, your usual potato salads, sandwiches or dips featuring homemade mayonnaise just have that extra something a mass-produced product can't compete with.

Preheat your oven to 375F. Cut the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices, stack the slices and cut again into sticks. Using a mortar and pestle, mash together the oregano, rosemary and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Once the mixture is well blended add the olive oil, little by little to form a paste. Add the mixture to the potatoes and, if needed, add some more oil to make sure each and every fry is well-coated. Place on a single layer on a baking sheet and cook for 30 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through the cooking time. Increase the temperature to 450F and cook for another ten minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and transfer to a bowl lined with paper towels to suck up any excess oil. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

In a small bowl, add the egg yolk and mustard and whisk until blended. Slowly add the oil, whisking continuously. After you have incorporated about a quarter of the oil, you should feel the mayonnaise coming together and starting to form a thick sauce. Add the oil very slowly to make sure that it has time to be completely incorporated in the mustard mixture before you add more oil. Once all the oil has been added, add the vinegar and lemon and whisk again. Add the capers and parsley. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve alongside the fries. Enjoy!

17 comments:

I had just had some fries at Carls Jr. the other day with my colleague and I was telling her how I wished commercial fastfood fries came with the skin intact... This is exactly what I love... rustic and something special using sweet potato instead of normal taters. Brilliant. :)

The photos are beautiful! I also love homemade mayonnaise and the main reason I don't make it often is that we can never use up a whole batch (since you're only supposed to keep it for a few days). So, I depend on the stuff in a jar most of the time, and save the homemade stuff for special occasions or when we have a group of people to feed so that it doesn't go to waste.

These are gorgeous! I made some spiced sweet potato fries for a Super Bowl party last year at our house and they were the first thing to go. I served them with a yogurt dipping sauce, but homemade mayo sounds much more decadent!

We have switched over to sweet potatoes for our french fries months ago, and you kow we like them better.I never thought to put chopped capers in homemade mayo. What a perfect pairing. Your photos are always stellar!! (I know I say that all the time lol)